Rating: 5/5

Free Guy is a surprisingly new take on what seemed to be a worn-out video game movie formula.

Most video game movies seem to be the same. Lots of explosions, cheesy dialogue, weak plot lines, and sub-par acting with little emotional investment. But Free Guy has changed that. With a complex, intellectual storyline and heartstring-tugging moments, it is a quality movie that still pays homage to video games and pop culture. The movie has shocking special effects and excellent humor (although often juvenile). The star power that Ryan Reynolds, Taika Waititi, and Joe Keery bring to the screen is mind blowing. And Jodie Comer delivers a tremendous performance as Molotov Girl.

Free Guy follows Ryan Reynolds as Guy, an non-player character (NPC) in the open-world video game Free City. He believes he is a real, sentient being. This raises deep, philosophical questions about what “existence” really is, both in the movie’s universe and in our own. If we could create a program that could learn, grow, make its own decisions and have experiences, even in a virtual world, does that program “exist”? Is it… alive? These are the questions the movie explores, between all of the infantile jokes. The pure artistic and philosophical wisdom that streams from this movie is Taika Waititi portrays Antwan, the head developer of Free City, and serves as the movie’s main antagonist. As he attempts to launch the game’s sequel, Free City 2, Guy and his real-world companions attempt to stop him as the release will erase all of the previous game’s data, effectively killing Guy and destroying everything he knows.

The movie’s humor is consistently off the charts, as expected with such humor legends as Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi. Although much of it would appeal mostly to a 12 year old boy, there are instances of true intellectual humor that only the very intelligent would understand. Reynolds performs as his usual role; a goofy, loveable man-child who’s also an incredible martial artist and total hero. 

Free Guy  introduces a whole new level of intellectuality to video game movies, unlike cheaply produced, low effort movies from the past such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Angry Birds. Because of this, the movie earns exceptional marks.